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Thread: 2 questions

  1. #1
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    2 questions

    Hi guys

    1) LED wall lights still burn dimly when switch at wall is off.... What could cause this?

    2) When switching changeover switch from 'inverter' to eskom it trips the ELU.
    When you reset ELU it stays up. Only when you switch the changeover it trips.. What could cause this?

    Cheers

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    1. Poor quality led bulbs (led driver stores energy). Make sure you are switching live not neutral.Night light on switch(you see them on alarm panic buttons)
    2. What type of transfer switch are you using and inverter make and capacity?

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    1) LED wall lights still burn dimly when switch at wall is off.... What could cause this?
    Could be slightly elevated neutral voltage , have noticed it around PE especially on overhead lines , happens some nights and not others , also does appear to be the cheaper fittings
    Also thinking about it - have noticed it on the cheaper motion switches , dimmers and switches with Led indication

    2) When switching changeover switch from 'inverter' to eskom it trips the ELU.
    When you reset ELU it stays up. Only when you switch the changeover it trips.. What could cause this?
    Assuming neutral earth is bridged on inverter side of operation and that a good earth is being used.
    Can be surge arrestor type plug tops that do that
    Last edited by GCE; 06-Apr-22 at 07:34 AM.

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    These are good quality wall mount Spazio lights.
    In an upmarket estate in Plettenberg Bay.
    IL have to remove one and check its connection.

    Inverter is an 8KW Deye with a Hager dinrail mount changeover switch.
    Client likes to change between inverter and eskom willy nilly.

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    Platinum Member Derlyn's Avatar
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    Same as earth leakage that trips when power comes on after loadshedding.

    From all the calls I've had for this problem, 95% of the time the solution was to replace the earth leakage relay.

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    The lights work with very little volts, have seen static on lines cause the lights to "stay on" there is other causes also, even googled it a bit and got various answers...
    The earth leakage problem is due to the harmonics or the cycles of the inverter and Eskom or being the same, most of the time. Replacing the earth leakage solve the problem most of the time cause the newer earth leakage don't see this as a problem.
    Overseas you get different classes of earth leakage's for solar or generator backup to solve the problem of nuisance tripping when you change from one system to another.

    Not sure of availability in South Africa??!!

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    Diamond Member Justloadit's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Delta View Post

    1) LED wall lights still burn dimly when switch at wall is off.... What could cause this?
    Theres 2 ways to cure the problem.
    1. Uses a 20W Incandescent lamp in the same circuit the LEDs are on. This may not good, where 1 light is yellow when the others are white or a different yellow.
    2. Use a 2,700 ohms 50W aluminium resistor, mount it on a small plate to keep it cool, and connect it in parralelle to any lamp. Place the plate some where in a safe place to allow the heat to dissipate into the air in the ceiling.

    Quote Originally Posted by Delta View Post
    2) When switching changeover switch from 'inverter' to eskom it trips the ELU.
    When you reset ELU it stays up. Only when you switch the changeover it trips.. What could cause this?
    You mentioned a Deye Inverter, which is similar to the Sunsync.
    Changing the ELU is not going to help, since the connected network, gets charged and floats Neutral above Earth, and when the ESKOM is connected, there is a discharge from the connected network Neutral to the ESKOM Neutral which is referenced to Earth, which causes the ELU to trip.
    This is an issue with all inverters, if you do not use a Earth to Neutral bond when running in inverter mode.
    The Deye manual does have a short brief description concerning the Earth/Neutral bond, you need to look for it.
    The Deye menu is slightly different, but it does have a generator output in one of the menus as indicated by the Sunsync video..
    Last edited by Justloadit; 07-Apr-22 at 10:43 AM. Reason: Added a link
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Delta View Post
    2) When switching changeover switch from 'inverter' to eskom it trips the ELU.
    When you reset ELU it stays up. Only when you switch the changeover it trips.. What could cause this?
    If this only happens when you cross over from inverter to municipal supply, and not when you cross over from municipal supply to inverter, and the neutral doesn't float when running on the inverter supply -
    Take a very close look at the arrangement of the neutrals and neutral bars. Make sure that the return neutral for every live is going to the correct neutral bar, including those on the supply side of the ELU. If it is done incorrectly, it seems to generate a pulse that affects the ELU even though the problem is on the supply side of the ELU.

    We had one situation with these exact symptoms and the problem was for one circuit that was not on earth leakage, the live was supplied on the load side of the crossover switch, but the neutral was on the municipal supply neutral bar rather than the crossover switch's load side neutral bar.

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    I think I found the problem of the led lights staying on dimly.
    I was playing around with plug tester and lo and behold every plug I tested showed 1 light on my tester which indicates L and N reversed.

    I removed a light, swopped live and neutral and voila light was off when switched off.

    Went to DB board and saw the municipal supply coming into mains isolator and leaving ths isolator are crossed.
    IE live is neutral and neutral is live.

    And this house was signed off as compliant.

    Will go back on Monday morning and swop to how they should be.

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